I used to do my wudu in reasonable time, but recently it is taking me much longer due to uncertainty.

It is taking me almost an hour to do wudu and a long time to just wash my feet because I am not satisfied that every inch of skin is washed thrice. Because of this, i miss some prayers and this is also the problem with ghusl (especially making sure that every single hair has been washed thrice). What can i do to reduce this time to do wudu and ghusl?

According to my understanding the minimum is 1 time and maximum is 3 times (not minimum 3 times).

Moreover we should prioritize everything in our live, in the case of salat and wudhu. Salat have higher priority compare to wudhu, that's why if we have no water we can do tayamum. So you shouldn't miss salat just caused by want to perfect the wudhu.

In my understanding wudhu can be as short as 5 minutes even less.

You may want to think about this:

The perfect salat is with wudhu, ruku, bow down, clean quite place, facing qibla etc. But in a certain condition you may pray without ruku or bow down (when you not capable such as sick, on the vehicle), even you don't need to face qibla when you are in moving vehicle (bus/plane etc).

From this we understand that salat is one of the most important part on Islamic faith and should be put in the highest priority, so we have to do it no mater what, if you can do it perfectly with wudhu, clean quite place, facing qibla etc that's the best, but you can not sacrifice salat just because you are lack of the "normal" requirement. If you can not stand you can do with sit, you can sit you can do with laying down combine with hand movement, can not move your hand, use eyes movement and so on, after you can not do anything (die) then somebody will pray for you.

However even salat is one of the most important aspect, if while you are praying your house burnt, you should run right away, not wait till you finish salat, because your life and savety more important.

Again: prioritize, do the best that you can and moderation.

Edited by semar - 09 April 2009 at 3:09pm

Salam/Peace,
Semar
The Prophet said: "Do not eat before you are hungry, and stop eating before you are full"
"1/3 of your stomach for food 1/3 for water, 1/3 for air"

It is taking me almost an hour to do wudu and a long time to just wash my feet because

Allah bless you; you should spend one hour on prayer rather wudu.

You are under serious attack of whispering "Waswasa", just throw it boldly. Set the challange for wudu to one minute; and do it; without worrying that it is accpted or not. Only way out, i guess.

Shatan also wants you to waste alot water also , probably definately you wash more than three.

Answer

Why do you need to wash your limbs more than thrice? If you wash more than thrice because of doubt, this is satanic misgivings through which Shaytaan tries to frustrate you. Do not wash more than thrice. After a few days, these satanic misgivings will vanish. If you are washing more than thrice merely for extra purity, this is a waste of water.

Whatever the case may be, washing more than thrice does not invalidate the wudhu.

And Allah knows best

Mufti M. KadwaDarul Iftaa, Madrassah In'aamiyyah

To encourge your speed; see below answers regarding importance of Takbir-Oola and Rakkat.

1)- If there is certainty that the salaah with congregation will be missed , then in this case it will be permissible to perform a minimal wudhu to ensure that salaah with congregation is attained .

b) Ifone commences wudhu at such a time wherein , if the complete wudhu is performed , the first rakaahof the salaah will be missed , however if a minimal wudhu is performed the first rakaah of salaah will beattained , then in this case it is preferable to perform a minimal wudhu and attain the first rakaah.

c) Ifwudhu is commenced at such a time wherein the first rakaah has already finished and if a complete wudhu is performed there is relative surety that salaah with the congregation will be attained , even if it is the last rakaah , then in this case it would be preferable to perform the complete wudhu.

i've posted a reply elsewhere on trusting in allah at times of doubt in ones faith and he would send you signs to reaffirm our faith.

well the proof is in the pudding. and a sign has been given. this post. coming from the past as a reaffermation. i myself have been asking the same questions {even today} as been asked here { concerning wudu }. allah be praised for the enlightenment on this subject in such a timely way!

It shouldn't take an hour to perform your wudu, even performing it sunnah and being careful to cover everything. For starters, washing for an hour- as one brother mentioned- uses a lot of water (not good) and takes up a lot of time that could be better spent in prayer or doing good works.

And think of it this way as well- wudu is not meant, in a practical sense, to be a detailed disinfection of your body. It is meant to get you clean to a degree and and in a state of mind conducive to concentrating on your prayers. If you want (or need) a serious washing, just do ghusl and be done with it- with that you'll have no question about everything being clean, and you'll get it done in far less than an hour!

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